This invention relates to a connector for use with electric or electronic appliances for the purpose of connecting substrates or connecting a substrate and a flexible printed circuit board, and more particularly to a pushing jig for pushing the connector to mating objects, and these connector and pushing jig achieving narrower pitches and higher mounting density.
In order to connect substrates or a substrate and a flexible printed circuit board used in electric and electronic appliances, in general, two connectors (so-called substrate-connecting connectors) each mounted on the respective substrate are fitted with each other. In recent years, however, a requirement for a reduced overall distance between substrates has become stronger.
As described above, connectors are used for many cases connecting substrates or connecting a substrate and a flexible printed circuit board. Incorporated herein are Japanese Patent Application Opened No. H10-32,062 (1998) proposed by the applicant of the present application using two connectors for connecting two substrates and using a flexible printed circuit board as contacts (Patent Literature 1), and Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2002-175,859 (Patent Literature 2), Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2004-241,304 (Patent Literature 3) and Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2005-302,705 (Patent Literature 4) these having contact portions in the form of a spiral adapted to contact mating objects.
Patent Literature 1
According to the abstract of the Japanese Patent application Opened No. H10-32,062 (1998), this invention has an object to provide an electrical connector 10 which is mounted on a substrate and able to be connected to a mating connector mounted on a substrate irrespective of positional deviation (of the order of 0.5 mm) between the substrates. Disclosed is a connector structure including an insulator 12, contacts 14 having a flexibility, and means for holding and fixing said contacts 14 in the insulator 12. Further disclosed is a structure of the contacts 14 each comprising two contact members 16 attached to each other and each of the contact members 16 consisting of a conductor 19 and insulating layers A18 and B20 embracing the conductor 19 therebetween.
Patent Literature 2
According to the abstract of the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2002-175,859, this invention has an object to provide a spiral contactor, semiconductor testing device (test socket, test board, and probe card), and electronic part (mounting socket and mounting connector), which can be used for small type semiconductor devices, packages, micro bare chips and wafer-shaped objects, which can form electric circuits without causing spherical connection terminals of a soft material to be deformed or scratched, which can tolerate high density of spherical connection terminals, and which is inexpensive and can realize highly reliable inspection. Disclosed is a contactor adapted to be electrically connected to a semiconductor device or electronic part having spherical connection terminals, comprising spiral contact elements 2 having a spiral shape as viewed in a plan view and adapted to contact said spherical connection terminals, and an insulating substrate on which said spiral contact elements are arranged such that said spiral contact elements are deformable depending upon the shape of said spherical connection terminals when the spiral contact elements come into contact with said spherical connection terminals, thereby enabling electrical connection with the semiconductor device or electronic part.
Patent Literature 3
According to the abstract of the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2004-241,304, this invention has an object to provide an electronic connector which is capable of achieving a miniaturization of the connector by reducing a total number of grounding terminals and has good transmission characteristics even within high frequency zone. Disclosed is an electronic connector provided with spiral contact elements 7 as signal terminals at the center and with grounding terminals 8 arranged about the spiral contact elements 7 so that one signal terminal can be electro-magnetically shielded by one grounding terminal 8, thereby providing an electronic connector superior in transmission characteristics even in high frequency zone, and enabling a miniaturization of the connector owing to more reduction in number of ground terminals in comparison with prior art.
Patent Literature 4
According to the abstract of the Japanese Patent Application Opened No. 2005-302,705, this invention has an object to provide a connector which is miniaturized by reducing the mounting area and superior in high frequency characteristics. Disclosed is a connector including a plurality of spiral contact elements 20 formed on an upper surface 3a as a first surface of a substrate 3, and a plurality of connection terminals 40 formed on a lower surface 3b as a second surface of the substrate 3 so that said spiral contact elements 20 and said connection terminals 40 are electrically connected and the plurality of said spiral contact elements 20 are arranged in a plane matrix on the upper surface 3a as the first surface of the substrate, with the result that it becomes possible to provide said many spiral contact elements 20 on the substrate to achieve a substantial miniaturization of the connector 1, and it is possible to improve the high frequency characteristics by the spiral contact elements 20.
As described above, in recent years the requirement for a reduced overall distance between substrates has become stronger. The devices and connectors disclosed in the Patent Literatures 2 to 4 may be used to response to such a requirement for the reduced overall distance between substrates. With the constructions disclosed in the Patent Literatures 2 to 4, however, as the contact portions adapted to contact mating objects are spiral, the contact portions become unavoidably larger so that narrower pitches cannot be achieved. Due to the spiral shapes of the contact portions, moreover, the contact pressure is poor, with the result that stable connection cannot be realized. Further, such spiral contact portions are not suitable for repeated contacts.